Offender Management statistics quarterly, England and Wales Quarter: July to September 2017, Prison population: 31 December 2017

1. Main points

The prison population has been relatively stable for the past five years. This differs to the increasing prison population trend that was observed between the 1950's and early 2000's (see Figure 1). Our most recent extracts indicate that there were:

84,373 prisoners in England and Wales as at 31 December 2017

The total prison population is essentially unchanged compared to the same point in the previous year.

35,567 admissions of which 21,335 were first receptions into prison in the latest quarter

Admissions and first receptions decreased by 2% on the same quarter last year but were similar to the previous quarter (changed by less than 1%).

47,863 adjudication outcomes in the last quarter

The number of adjudications increased by 9% on the same quarter of the previous year. 5,091 of these resulted in awards of additional days added to prisoners' sentences, an increase of 22% compared with the same quarter in 2016.

265,047 offenders on probation as at 30 September 2017

The number of offenders on probation at the end of September 2017 was 1% higher than the same point in the previous year.

5,509 offenders recalled to prison in the latest quarter

This is a 1% decrease compared to the same quarter in the previous year and a 2% increase on the previous quarter.

17,897 releases of which 17,611 were from determinate sentences in the last quarter

The number of releases decreased by 4% compared with the same point in the previous year.

This publication gives offender management statistics for the latest date available and provides comparison with fixed points of time in the previous year. For full and detailed commentary which looks into longer term trends, please refer to the annual publication, published in July, and 'The Story of the Prison Population: 1993 - 2016'. For technical detail please refer to the accompanying guide, 'Guide to offender management statistics'. 2. Prison Population

The prison population stood at 84,373 on 31 December 2017.

The sentenced prison population stood at 73,789 (87% of the prison population); the remand prison population stood at 9,639 (11%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 945 (1%).

Figure 1: Prison population, September 1997 to 2017 (Source: Table 1.1)

Remand

The remand population has increased by 4% (388) compared with the same point 12 months earlier. The number of males remanded in custody increased by 4% (to 9,062) whilst the number of females increased by 5% (to 577).

More than half (54%) of those remanded in custody were being held for either:

Violence against the person (22% of the remand population), Drug offences (17%) or Theft Offences (15%).

Sentenced

In line with the long term trend, the sentenced population has increased by 201 in the year leading up to 31 December 2017. Figure 1 shows that the total prison population has increased in line with the growth of the sentenced prison population since December 1997, however in more recent years the sentenced and total prison population has remained as a relatively constant level. Broadly speaking, there have been decreases in the number of prisoners serving determinate sentences of less than 4 years and increases in those serving determinate sentences of 4 years or longer. The number of prisoners serving determinate sentences of 14 years or more has increased by 8% (to 3,833) in the 12 months to 31 December 2017. Sex offenders

The rise in the long determinate sentenced population is in line with the increasing number of sentenced sex offenders. As at 31 December 2017 there were 13,534 prisoners serving sentences for sexual offences, which represented 18% of the sentenced prison population.

The number of prisoners serving immediate custodial sentences for sexual offences is now at its highest level since at least 2002. This is consistent with the latest ONS 'Crime in England and Wales' bulletin which reports on the number of sexual offences recorded by the police in the year ending June 2017.

A recent Crown Prosecution Service report highlighted that 2016/17 saw the highest ever number of convictions for rape and other sexual offences.

'Violence Against the Person (VATP)' and 'Possession of Weapons' offences

One in every four sentenced prisoners is in prison for a VATP offence. This proportion has remained stable for the past 12 months. The number of those sentenced to a 'Possession of Weapons' offence increased by 11% (to 2,470) compared to the same time last year. This substantial increase can be attributed to a range of factors, including more targeted police operations against knife crime. However this offence group only accounts for 3% of the sentenced prison population.

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

EDSs were made available for courts to impose from 13 April 2015 and on 31 December 2017, 4,302 prisoners were serving such sentences; a 2% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 28% increase compared to the same time last year.

Indeterminate sentences

As at 31 December 2017, there were 10,173 (9,833 male; 340 female) indeterminate sentenced prisoners (those serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences and life sentences) in the prison population. This represents an annual decrease of 8%.

There were 3,029 IPP prisoners as at 31 December 2017 which represents a decrease of 18% in the last 12 months. This figure has decreased by 50% since the June 2012 peak of 6,080, however the number of IPP prisoners who have been recalled to custody continues to increase; in the past year the recalled IPP population has grown by 18% (to 831).

The proportion of the IPP population who are post-tariff continues to increase; 87% of IPP prisoners were post-tariff as of 31 December 2017 compared to 84% at the same time the previous year.

The number of life sentenced prisoners (7,144) has decreased by 3% compared to 31 December 2016. There were 61 whole-life prisoners at the end of December 2017, with 4 additional life prisoners being treated in secure hospitals.

Recall to custody

The prison population who have been recalled to custody (6,138 prisoners) decreased by 7% over the year leading up to 31 December 2017. On this date, there were 1,034 prisoners recorded as being in custody following a recall under the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 (ORA); representing 17% of the total recall population.

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

There were 9,340 (1,585 remand, 6,892 sentenced and 863 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody and HMPPS-operated Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) as at 31 December 2017; representing 11% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison (and HMPPS IRC) population has decreased by 4% compared to 31 December 2016. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Polish (9% of the FNO prison population), Irish (8%), Albanian (8%), Romanian (7%) and Jamaican (5%).

3. Prison receptions and admissions

In total there were 35,567 admissions to custody in the latest quarter.

14,116 remand admissions, 16,170 sentenced admissions, 5,215 recall admissions and 66 non-criminal admissions.

21,335 offenders were received into custody as first receptions in the latest quarter.

11,471 remand first receptions, 9,810 sentenced first receptions and 54 civil non-criminal first receptions.

The number of first receptions decreased by 1% on the previous quarter, this is consistent with a 2% decrease in the number of first receptions compared with the same quarter in 2016.

There was a 4% increase in the number of untried admissions (to 8,926), a 2% increase in the number of convicted unsentenced admissions (to 5,190) and a 4% decrease in the number of sentenced admissions (to 16,170) compared with the same quarter in 2016.

Adult (aged 21+) remand admissions have increased by 3% and young adult (18-20 year olds) remand admissions have increased by 3%. Adult sentenced admissions have decreased by 3% and young adult sentenced admissions have decreased by 7%, compared with the same quarter last year.

Almost half of all sentenced admissions during the quarter were for sentences of six months or less (7,613, 47% of sentenced admissions). This sentence length band has seen a 5% decrease in the number of admissions when compared with the same quarter last year.

By comparing this quarter with the corresponding quarter in 2016 it can be seen that immediate custodial sentenced admissions for 'Fraud Offences' and 'Drug offences' decreased by 22% and 9% respectively, however the number of sentenced admissions for 'Public order offences' and 'Possession of weapons' has increased by 11% and 7% respectively compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Former members of the Armed Forces

Former members of the Armed Forces accounted for 463 of the matched first receptions for July to September, 2017. This equates to approximately 3% of offenders who responded to the question asked, which has been at the same level of response for the five previous quarters.

4. Adjudications

There were 47,863 adjudication outcomes in the latest quarter. 66% of these adjudications were proven

One in three (33%) of proven adjudications were for offences of disobedience or disrespect; the number of proven disobedience offences increased by 2% on the same quarter of the previous year. The total number of proven adjudications increased by 13% over the same time period, predominantly due to a large increase in proven adjudications for unauthorised transactions.

There were 5,091 punishments where additional days were awarded for offences committed by prisoners in the quarter ending September 2017. The average number of punishments per offence was 1.68. This is broadly consistent with figures seen in the previous quarter.

5. Releases

17,897 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter.

17,611 releases from determinate sentences and 286 from indeterminate sentences.

Prison releases from custodial sentences

The total number of releases during the quarter ending September 2017 represents a 4% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2016.

The number of prisoners released from sentences of ‘12 months to less than 2 years’ and ‘2 years to less than 4 years’ decreased by 11% and 6% respectively. Similarly the number of prisoners released from sentences of ‘4 years or more’ has decreased by 4%.

There were 286 releases from indeterminate sentences between July and September 2017, a 15% increase from the same period in 2016. The majority (174) were offenders released from IPP sentences.

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

2,246 offenders were released on HDC during the latest quarter. The number of HDC releases remained steady compared to the same quarter in 2016.

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

There were 90,749 incidences of ROTL during the quarter ending September 2017, which is a 3% increase on the same quarter last year.

Compared to the quarter ending September 2016, the number of ROTL incidences increased by 1% for females (to 8,139) and increased by 3% for males (to 82,610).

The number of individuals given at least one incidence of ROTL between July and September 2017 was 4,044, which represents an increase of 4% since the same quarter of the previous year.

There were 82 recorded Temporary Release Failures (TRFs) between July and September 2017. This is a decrease of 7 compared with the previous quarter and an increase of 14 compared with the same period the previous year. TRFs as a proportion of temporary release incidences remain at a low level, with approximately only 1 in every 1,100 incidences of temporary release resulting in a failure between July and September 2017. Prisoner transfers

There were a total of 22,897 recorded incidences of prisoner transfer during the latest quarter. The majority of these (68%) were routine inter-prison transfers; 89 (under 1%) incidences of transfer were a result of overcrowding drafts. 18,758 prisoners had at least one incidence of a transfer in the quarter ending September 2017.

6. Probation

The total number of offenders on probation was 265,047 at the end of September.

This was a 1% increase in the total probation caseload (court orders and pre- and post-release supervision) compared with 30 September 2016.

Figure 2: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 31 December 2007-2016 and 30 September 2017 (Source: Table 4.7)

The overall court order caseload remained stable between the quarters ending September 2016 and 2017, with the Community Order (CO) caseload decreasing by 4% but the Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) caseload increasing by 5%. The number of offenders starting COs decreased by 8% over this period, while the number of offenders starting SSOs with requirements decreased by 4%. The overall caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison increased by 2% between the end of September 2016 and 2017, with those supervised on post release alone rising by 4%.

Regarding the number of requirements started under court orders, increases can be seen in the combination of the rehabilitation requirement with unpaid work across both COs and SSOs, despite the general fall in requirement numbers commensurate with the fall in numbers of orders. There have also been rises generally in the number of accredited program requirements over the latest period.

Of the court orders terminated in the quarter ending September 2017, 71% of community orders were terminated successfully; for the supervision periods of suspended sentence orders, 70% were terminated successfully over this period.

The number of court reports prepared by the Probation Service decreased by 12% between the quarter ending September 2017 and the same quarter in the previous year, to reach 31,656. Sixty nine per cent of immediate custodial sentences proposed in Pre-Sentence Reports resulted in that sentence being given in the latest 12 month period.

7. Licence Recalls

The number of licence recalls between July and September 2017 was 5,509.

The number of recalls decreased by 1% compared with the same period in 2016.

Offenders who have been sentenced to more than a day in prison will receive at least 12 months of supervision on release, as a result of the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 (ORA) in February 2015, which for the first time allows offenders sentenced to less than 12 months in prison to be released on licence and subject to recall during their supervision period. This only affects those sentenced from 1 February 2015. Recalls of offenders who breach conditions of their licence following a sentence of less than 12 months are called ORA recalls.

Between July and September 2017, there were 2,222 ORA recalls, a 12% increase compared with the same period in 2016 and 10 more than in the previous quarter.

The number of non-ORA recalls has generally been falling in recent years. There were 3,287 non-ORA recalls between July and September 2017, a 9% decrease compared with the same period in 2016, although a 3% increase when compared with the previous quarter.

The most common reason for offenders being recalled between July and September 2017 was for non-compliance, with 68% of recalls having ‘non-compliance’ recorded as one of the reasons for recall. ‘Further charge’ was recorded as a reason in 43% of licence recalls. There could be more than one reason for a recall.

Between July and September 2017, 77 offenders serving Indeterminate sentence for Public Protection (IPP) and 45 offenders serving a life sentence were re-released having previously been returned to custody for breaching their licence conditions.

Offenders not returned to custody

Of all recalled offenders between April 1999 and September 2017, 1,608 are not shown to have been returned to custody as at 31 December 2017. Also, 18 offenders recalled between 1984 and 1999 are not shown to have been returned to custody as at 31 December 2017. Overall, the total number of offenders not returned to custody as at 31 December 2017 following recall between 1984 and 30 September 2017 is 1,626. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead with their deaths yet to be confirmed or living abroad.

Of the 1,626 not returned to custody by 31 December 2017, 255 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 55 for sexual offences. Further information

This publication presents quarterly data trends. For annual figures, and longer-term trends, please refer to our annual bulletin published in July each year.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

- A ‘Guide to Offender Management Statistics’, which provides comprehensive information about data sources and quality, as well as key legislative changes.
- A document outlining the ‘Users of Offender Management Statistics’
- A set of data tables, covering each section of this bulletin, including a prison population data tool.

National Statistics status

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority's regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: Tel: 020 3334 3536 Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice: Nick Mavron, Head of Prison, Probation, Reoffending and PbR Statistics Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Next update: 26 April 2018 URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

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